Battle of Con Thien

The Battle of Con Thien was fought from 27 February 1967 to 28 February 1968 when the North Vietnamese PAVN besieged the US Marine Corps base at Con Thien.

The northern quarter of South Vietnam, the domain of I Corps, was home to over 2.5 million people, with all but 2% living on the rice-growing river valleys along the South China Sea. The US Marine Corps sought to eradicate the Viet Cong there and provide security for the people there, and they left the sparsely-populated highlands to the enemy, focusing on the villages along the coast. General William Westmoreland feared that thousands of NVA regulars were planning to seize the two northernmost provinces, and he decided to find and destroy them. He insisted the US 3rd Marine Division move north and establish a base at Dong Ha and man strongpoints at Gio Linh, Con Thien, Cam Lo, Camp Carroll, the Rockpile, and Khe Sanh.

On 8 May 1967, the Marines captured Con Thien with a loss of 44 killed and 167 wounded, and, from 13 to 16 May, the Marines cleared the road from Con Thien and Cam Lo, forcing the NVA to withdraw to the DMZ. During the summer, the US forces along the DMZ and the border with Laos were subjected to accurate NVA artillery fire, and the Marines bore the brunt of the spring and summer's fighting; the DMZ was nicknamed the "Dead Marines Zone". The 1st Battalion suffered so many casualties in bloody sweeps around Con Thien that they were nicknamed "the Walking Dead", gaining a reputation as a hard-luck outfit. In September 1967, the NVA started their major shelling of Con Thien, firing 200 artillery and mortar rounds daily. From 19 to 27 September, more than 3,000 rounds hit the base. In retaliation, Marine artillery fired 12,577 rounds, US Navy ships fired 6,158 rounds, and over 5,200 Marine and US Air Force sorties bombed NVA positions. Fierce fighting continued through 1968, to the degree where the Tet Offensive was barely noticed, as it was more of the same bloodshed. On 28 February 1968, the end of the Tet Offensive marked the end of the year-long battle for Con Thien.